Maximum Individual Mandate Payment for 2017 Announced

by Gregg Kennerly | Published Thursday, August 31, 2017

The IRS has released the 2017 monthly national average premium for a bronze-level health plan offered through the Health Insurance Marketplace, which is used to determine the maximum individual mandate penalty.

New Guidance
According to the new IRS guidance, the monthly national average premium for qualified health plans that have a bronze level of coverage and are offered through the Health Insurance Marketplace in 2017 is:

$272 per individual(up from $223); and

$1,360 for a family with five or more members(up from $1,115).

The guidance is effective for taxable years ending after December 31, 2016.

Calculating the Payment
The Affordable Care Act’s “individual mandate” provision requires every individual to have minimum essential health coverage for each month, qualify for an exemption, or make a penalty payment when filing his or her federal income tax return.

The annual penalty amount is either a percentage of an individual’s household income in excess of the tax return filing threshold or a flat dollar amount, whichever is greater. The maximum penalty amount is capped at the cost of the national average premium for a bronze level health plan available through the Marketplace. At this time, the 2017 inflation adjustment for the flat dollar amount penalty has not been announced.

In his career, Gregg has developed specialized expertise in “consumer-driven” and high deductible health plans with HSA and HRA strategies, and sold the first HSA plans issued in Virginia through Assurant Health. He is an expert in analyzing plan design data and has served as account executive for national accounts such as Coca-Cola Enterprises and Tenet HealthCare. Gregg utilizes a strategic approach to establish goals based on each client’s unique culture and competitive environment, and measuring results against jointly established criteria.
Gregg Kennerly is a Principal at Advanced Benefit Strategies of Virginia, LLC.

Contact Info

Advanced Benefit Strategies of Virginia, LLC

Gregg Kennerly, Principal

Andrea Eggleston, Principal

Karen Bolstad, Senior Operations Director

Carol Watson, Senior Account Executive

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